Suchergebnisse

The study described here is part of an evaluation of a pilot project concerning the implementation of three psychiatric crisis units in general hospitals in Belgium. The purpose was to evaluate the short-term outcome of a multidisciplinary crisis intervention for psychiatric patients referred to the emergency department. Patients were assessed with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) at the time of referral to the emergency department and again 1 month later. Patients referred for a psychiatric crisis intervention were compared with patients receiving short-term psychiatric inpatient treatment in another hospital. Patients referred to the emergency department showed a considerable degree of psychiatric disturbance. The General Health Questionnaire appeared to be a good measure for assessment of the "state" aspect of a psychiatric disturbance. The state of distress was significantly reduced one month after referral in both treatment conditions. Nevertheless, an important proportion of patients remained in a state of considerable distress. The results indicate that a short hospital-based crisis intervention approach is comparable with more traditional acute inpatient treatment. However, in the case of more severely distressed patients it may be insufficient. Several limitations of this study are also discussed (risk of overestimation of improvement, influence of time or pre-existing differences).

Over a period of two years, all psychiatric emergency referrals at the emergency department of four public hospitals were monitored using a standardized form. The results showed that the hospitals share a typical profile of the psychiatric emergency department user. The profile is consistent with earlier descriptive studies, in Belgium as well as in other countries. Possible ways to overcome problems with data collection within the setting of a psychiatric emergency department are suggested. Finally, the necessity of monitoring the service needs of specific subgroups is discussed.